In the past couple of weeks of doing consultations with some of my clients, there was a re-occurring theme that kept popping up with many of them. The issue was simply having unpredictable performance in the gym. Some days they felt great, other days they felt terrible. Now, these clients are not unique; this phenomenon is pretty much universal. Nobody that trains regularly is “on” 100 percent of the time. We all have bad days in the gym from time to time. Sometimes we can explain it, sometimes we can’t – we are just off.
With some trainees, this type of irregularity is chronic. Factors affecting chronic irregularity in the gym might come from the following:
- Poor Recovery – inconsistent sleep and nutrition. Is sometimes unavoidable (odd work schedule, etc) or is completely avoidable (i.e. you just need to get some discipline and plan better).
- High Stress – we all get stressed from time to time, but sometimes stress can build up over prolonged periods of time like during a protracted divorce, dealing with a terminally ill family member, managing a struggling business, being out of work, etc.
- Weight Loss – if you need to lose a bunch of weight, its hard to not lose some strength at the same time. If you are doing a carb cycling approach, then you can be assured that workouts that fall towards the end of a low carb cycle will feel awful, while workouts that fall immediately after a carb load will feel great.
- Athletics – for those that play a sport that requires lots of conditioning and sport specific practice, gym performance can be negatively impacted. A high volume of wind sprints the day before a squat session is certainly going to have an effect. There are ways to structure practice, conditioning, and strength training for the least amount of impact on performance, but sometimes the ideal training schedule can not be adhered to as a matter of logistics.
Whatever the reason for chronic irregular performance in the gym, the trainee needs to find a solution. A training system such as the Texas Method is not only extremely difficult, but it is extremely rigid. If the trainee is consistently up and down in their ability to perform under the bar, it screws up the program. The solution is to find a program that is built around Performance Flexibility.
Performance Flexibility is a concept that is nothing more than designing a training program to accommodate fluctuating ability levels from day to day and week to week. In other words, if the trainee is having a horrible day in the gym, there must be some minimums that he must meet before the workout is over, but PRs are not necessarily expected. He doesn’t quit the workout, he doesn’t quit the program. He just meets a few minimum volume/intensity standards and moves on to the next week. Likewise, if the trainee is having a great day in the gym, he should not be restrained in his ability to set a PR – quite possibly a very large PR. After all – the trainee doesn’t know when his ability to set the next PR is going to surface again. So he should take advantage of his increased performance ability NOW.
For some reason, I attract a lot of Type A personalities into my ring of consulting clients. Type A’s are good because they generally stick to whatever program I design for them, but they are also a pain in the ass :-D . They tend to want everything to fall neatly into an Excel Spreadsheet. Nothing would thrill them more than to be able to layout 52 weeks of training, set for set, rep for rep, into a nice neat spreadsheet and just go on auto-pilot for the rest of the year. Any time I get into estimations, approximations, or anything uncertain it makes them nuts.
If you find yourself amongst those that struggle to maintain consistency in the gym, then you will struggle with the type of long range planning I just mentioned…..UNLESS you build some performance flexibility into the program. Performance flexibility is not a program. It”s a concept that programs can be built around.
An excellent example of a program that offers performance flexibility is the Westside Barbell Program. As most of you are familiar with, Westside Barbell uses a Max Effort Day at the beginning of the week for Squats/Deads and for Bench Presses. Each week the lifter selects a variation of the competition lifts and works up to a 1 rep max. That 1 rep max may or may not be an all time PR. Of course the lifter is hoping and trying for a PR, but if its not there, he simply works up to his best single for that day. After the top single, many lifters will do back off sets with a certain percentage of the 1RM they hit on that day. Perhaps 80% for a max set of 5+ reps.
At the advanced level of training, performance flexibility becomes increasingly important. As a lifter gets closer and closer to his genetic potential it becomes increasingly difficult to hit PRs with predictable consistency. Using the concept also becomes easier for more advanced lifters because they are a little more in tune with their bodies and their capabilities. They can more readily identify a “good day” versus a “bad day” with objectivity and adjust the training session “on the fly.”
If you are struggling with up and down performance in the gym, try and look for ways to build in some performance flexibility into your program. Start by figuring out some minimum’s you must hit at each training session for the workout to qualify as a workout. Then look for a strategy that will allow you to take advantage of a good day. Is it working up to a 1rm in a given lift like Westside? Or perhaps it is simply doing a repetition maximum with whatever load is scheduled to be handled that day. Perhaps a set of 5 is your minimum, but if you feel great, bust out 6 or 7. If all this is very confusing for you and you’d like some help, feel free to hit me up for a virtual coaching session or an all inclusive program design. We can implement some performance flexibility into your current program, or design you something new from scratch.
